Dr. Wan Azizah served as a government doctor for 14 years before deciding to focus on volunteering work, when her husband, Anwar Ibrahim was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in 1993. As part of her voluntary pursuits, she became a patron of MAKNA (Majlis Kanser Nasional or National Cancer Council) in that period [3][4] and became the second woman to lead a political party in Malaysia's history (Ganga Nayar founded and became the first president of the Malaysian Workers' Party in 1978 [5]).

Wan Azizah has said that she has a Peranakan (Straits Chinese) grandfather but identifies as a Malay Muslim.[6] It is claimed that she also has Korean ancestry.[by whom?]

Following the dismissal and arrest of her husband on 20 September 1998, Dr. Wan Azizah earned the respect and admiration of many Malaysians as the leader of the fledgling Reformasi movement. She first led the Social Justice Movement (ADIL), a civil rightsNGO, before helping to establish the Parti Keadilan Nasional on 4 April 1999. The establishment of the party saw Dr. Wan Azizah being elected as the first party president.[7]

On 3 August 2003, she brought the party into a merger with the older Malaysian People's Party (or Parti Rakyat Malaysia) which saw the establishment of the People's Justice Party and was elected as the president of the newly merged party.

In the first elections competed by the party in 1999, she led the party to win 5 seats in the Parliament and was herself elected as the Member of Parliament for Permatang Pauh; the seat formerly held by Anwar Ibrahim; with a majority of 9,077 votes. She successfully retained the seat in the 2004 elections after five recounts with a reduced majority.[8]

As a political party leader and also a parliamentary representative, Dr. Wan Azizah is involved in many programs and activities domestically and internationally. She has spoken at UN-sponsored programs, and the local and international media. She is also the Vice-Chair of the Malaysian Parliamentary Caucus for Democracy in Myanmar and a member of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus.[9]

With the public announcement by Anwar Ibrahim regarding his intention to return to active politics despite being legally barred from doing so,[11] Dr Wan Azizah has indicated her readiness to vacate the position of party president if he was elected.[12] Nonetheless, she has also indicated that she intends to defend her parliamentary seat for Permatang Pauh.[13] She resigned her parliamentary seat for Permatang Pauh on 31 July 2008, to make way for her husband Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who won the subsequent by-election on 26 August 2008 with a large majority.

On 9 March 2014, PKR announced party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as its new candidate for the Kajang by-election.[16] This is following Anwar Ibrahim sentencing to five years in prison after Malaysia's court of appeal overturns sodomy acquittal causing Anwar to be unable to run in the by-election.[17]